WACO - Senior outfielders Tiffany Wesley and Nicole Wesley were each named ESPN The Magazine Academic All-Americans, the College Sports Information Directors of America announced Wednesday. Tiffany Wesley earned first-team honors, while Nicole Wesley was named to the second-team.
T. Wesley became the fifth student-athlete in Baylor softball history to be named to first-team, and the second in as many years, following Alex Colyer's selection in 2009. This marked the second-straight season that two Lady Bears have been named Academic All-American.
Tiffany Wesley (3.95, Pre-Med/Health Sciences) earned her second-straight selection to the Academic All-American team after being named to the second-team in 2009. She is a three-time, first-team Academic All-District and Academic All-Big 12 selection and was named first-team All-Big 12 in 2009. The Baton Rouge, La., native hit .360 on the season with two home runs, eight doubles and 21 RBI to go with 17 stolen bases. She finished third on the all-time stolen base list at Baylor with 87 and eighth in hits with 206.
Nicole Wesley (3.92, Neuroscience) was named Academic All-American for the first time in her career. She is a three-time, first-team Academic All-Big 12 and first-team Academic All-District selection, as well as a first-team All-Big 12 honoree in 2008 and 2010. The Baton Rouge, La., native hit .384 with four doubles,14 RBI and 22 stolen bases. She is fifth on the all-time stolen bases list with 72.
To be eligible for Academic All-America® consideration, a student-athlete must be a varsity starter or key reserve, maintain a cumulative G.P.A. of 3.30 on a scale of 4.00, have reached sophomore athletic and academic standings at his/her current institution and be nominated by his/her sports information director.
Nicole Wesley was named to the NFCA All-Central Region second-team the National Fastpitch Coaches Association announced on Thursday. It marked the second time for Wesley, after being named to the first-team in 2008.
Wesley led the team with a .384 average to go with four doubles, 14 RBI and a perfect 22-for-22 in stolen bases. The senior finished her career fourth on Baylor's all-time stolen base list with 72.
The postseason award was the fourth for Wesley, who has already been named first-team All-Big 12, first-team Academic All-Big 12 and ESPN The Magazine first-team Academic All-District.
The all-region teams were chosen by NFCA member coaches from each region, and all the honorees will now be eligible for selection to the Louisville Slugger/NFCA All-America first, second or third teams. In addition, conference pitchers and players of the year not selected to the regional teams were added for All-America consideration.
Baylor (28-25) set a new Big 12 Championship with 15 runs in a 15-4 (5) win over Iowa State in game one, but a seventh-inning comeback against No. 12 Texas was not enough, falling 3-2 in the quarterfinal round.
"I am proud of the way we finished this season," head coach Glenn Moore said. "Things didn't always go our way, but this team fought all the way to the end and gave the best team in our conference a run for their money. Hopefully this weekend will set the tone for next season."
Game One
Baylor set a new Big 12 Championship record, scoring 15 runs en route to a 15-4 win over Iowa State (26-29) in five innings in the opening round game at the Big 12 Championship on Saturday.
Megan Turk set a new career high with four RBI, while Courtney Nieten added two doubles and two RBI to pace the Lady Bears' offense. Courtney Repka (20-18) went 5.0 innings, allowing four hits, two runs, walking one and striking out four.
Iowa State jumped out to a 2-0 lead, as Kelsey Kidwell lined a one-out triple to right center, and Erica Miller brought her home with her seventh home run of the season.
Baylor answered with a run in the bottom of the first, as Lauren Kennewell walked the bases loaded with two outs, and a bobbled grounder off the bat of Kathy Shelton allowed Jordan Vannatta to score. The Lady Bears would leave the bases loaded, trailing 2-1.
The Lady Bears broke the game open in the second, scoring nine runs on eight hits. A pair of RBI-doubles from Nicole Wesley and Courtney Nieten brought in three runs for a 4-2 lead. Bree Hanafin hit a sac fly to left center for an RBI, and Megan Turk added an RBI of her own to make it 6-2. Walker and Nicole Wesley added back-to-back RBI-singles for a 9-2 lead, and an illegal pitch scored Sydney Wilson to cap off the inning.
Baylor added two more in the third, as Turk added her second RBI of the day on a groundout to second, scoring Hanafin and Wilson singled to center to score Walker for a 12-2 advantage.
Alicia Vasquez came in to replace Repka in the fourth, and Iowa State added a pair of runs. That prompted the return of Repka, who recorded the three outs to keep the game at 12-4.
Nieten added her second double of the game in the fourth, and with two outs, Turk hit a two-RBI single to score Nieten and Shelton for a 14-4 lead. KJ Freeland added the final run, scoring on a wild pitch.
Game Two
A Courtney Nieten two-run home run in the top of the seventh was not enough to surpass No. 12 Texas (42-12), falling 3-2 in the quarterfinal round of the Big 12 Championship. Baylor totaled three hits on the day to Texas' five.
With the game scoreless in the second, back-to-back singles led to Thrasher's 12th home run of the season for a 3-0 lead.
Repka allowed just two hits the rest of the way to keep the Lady Bears in the game.
Jordan Vannatta led off the top of the seventh with a single to left field for the second hit of the game. In the next at bat, Courtney Nieten blasted her eighth home run of the season over the left field wall to cut the deficit to one. The Lady Bears could not complete the comeback, however, falling 3-2.
Repka (20-19) went 6.0 innings, allowing just five hits, three runs, three walks and four strikeouts in the loss.
The loss eliminates Baylor from the Big 12 Championship.
OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. - After the threat of rain postponed Friday's games, the No. 8 Baylor softball team will now open up Big 12 Championship play on Saturday at 11:00 a.m. against No. 9 Iowa State. The winner of that contest will face No. 1 Texas at 1:30 p.m.
The new Saturday schedule is as follows:
11:00 a.m. Game 1 - No. 10 Kansas vs. No. 7 Texas Tech (Main Field)
11:00 a.m. Game 2 - No. 9 Iowa State vs. No. 8 Baylor (Alt. Field)
1:30 p.m. Game 3 - Kansas/Texas Tech vs. No. 2 Oklahoma (Alt. Field)
1:30 p.m. Game 5 - Iowa State/Baylor vs. No. 1 Texas (Main Field)
5:00 p.m. Game 4 - No. 6 Nebraska vs. No. 3 Texas A&M (Main Field)
5:00 p.m. Game 6 - No. 5 Missouri vs. No. 4 Oklahoma State (Alt. Field)
7:30 p.m. Winner Game 3 vs. Winner Game 4
7:30 p.m. Winner Game 5 vs. Winner Game 6
OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. - The Baylor softball team had two student-athletes named first-team All-Big 12, as Nicole Wesley and Kayce Walker each earned their second all-conference nods. This marks the seventh-consecutive season Baylor has had at least two student-athletes on the first team.
Walker, who was a first-team all-conference member in 2009, is second on the team with a .373 average to go with three doubles, 13 RBI 21 stolen bases. She finished fifth in the league with a .407 average in conference play and was the only BU player to see action in every game this season.
Wesley earned her second, first-team selection after leading the Lady Bears with a .388 average that was good enough to rank fifth in the league. The senior also had three doubles, 12 RBI and was a perfect 22-for-22 in stolen bases.
The All-Big 12 honors are selected by the league's head coaches, who are not allowed to vote for their own players.
